Darla Bjork

Darla Bjork

Crossroads 2, 2019

Darla Bjork was born and raised in rural Minnesota and moved to New York City after finishing medical school in 1965. She came to do a residency in psychiatry and remained in the city working as a psychiatrist even after developing her art career in 1980. While her years of treating people with mental health issues might seem far removed from art, certainly there is a depth of appreciation and understanding of the human psyche that has continued to contribute to her creative efforts. She currently maintains a small studio in Tribeca though in recent years often spends more time in her studio in Woodstock, NY. Also a lover of music, both studios are most often filled with the sounds of Bach or Beethoven (and sometimes jazz). Darla describes putting on music as the beginning of her work in the studio. Her work is abstract but the form has varied and evolved over her career with changes in the medium used, technique and interplay of color and texture. Over the past several years she has been working with layers of encaustic and/or oil stick and often etches back to the underlying wax, creating shifting dimensions and perspectives. She describes painting “primitive, fairly ambiguous forms that allow the viewer to read into the work their own stories.” Darla’s inspiration draws from a range of areas that includes childhood memories, forms in nature, landscapes and of course the senses and emotions accompanying these experiences. Her multi-layered appreciations of life yields multi layered paintings. For several years she had been making what she referred to as “grid-like structures” that evolved into “weavings of random crossings and overlapping color.” Of this Crossroads Series she says “these consciously evoke the warp and weft of the woven rugs that I as a child watched my maternal grandmother make on a large loom in her basement.” In another series called Sanctuary, Darla explores nature as a meditative space where “water, plant life and sunlight flow together as vibrant liquids.” This year in the midst of living with the COVID pandemic and sheltering in place in Woodstock for weeks at a time, she began work on what became the COVID Windows series. These paintings suggest the windows of city buildings where people might be sheltering. Darla sees this series of work as a tribute to those hoping to stay safe in their apartments and also to those who succumbed to the virus. Ever cognizant of the historical role and efforts of women artists generally, Darla became a founding member of the women-run nonprofit collective, Ceres Gallery, in downtown Manhattan. In 1996 she left to join SOHO20 Gallery, also a women’s collective, founded in 1973. She has had solo shows and participated in group exhibits and served in administrative capacities in both galleries. Most recently she has served as chair of the SOHO20 Board of Advisors. Darla’s paintings have appeared in many solo and group shows and her work has been reviewed in various publications. (Biography by Carol Capper.)

View more of Darla's work by visiting her website:
www.darlabjork.com

Darla Bjork

Crossroads 2, 2019

Darla Bjork was born and raised in rural Minnesota and moved to New York City after finishing medical school in 1965. She came to do a residency in psychiatry and remained in the city working as a psychiatrist even after developing her art career in 1980. While her years of treating people with mental health issues might seem far removed from art, certainly there is a depth of appreciation and understanding of the human psyche that has continued to contribute to her creative efforts. She currently maintains a small studio in Tribeca though in recent years often spends more time in her studio in Woodstock, NY. Also a lover of music, both studios are most often filled with the sounds of Bach or Beethoven (and sometimes jazz). Darla describes putting on music as the beginning of her work in the studio. Her work is abstract but the form has varied and evolved over her career with changes in the medium used, technique and interplay of color and texture. Over the past several years she has been working with layers of encaustic and/or oil stick and often etches back to the underlying wax, creating shifting dimensions and perspectives. She describes painting “primitive, fairly ambiguous forms that allow the viewer to read into the work their own stories.” Darla’s inspiration draws from a range of areas that includes childhood memories, forms in nature, landscapes and of course the senses and emotions accompanying these experiences. Her multi-layered appreciations of life yields multi layered paintings. For several years she had been making what she referred to as “grid-like structures” that evolved into “weavings of random crossings and overlapping color.” Of this Crossroads Series she says “these consciously evoke the warp and weft of the woven rugs that I as a child watched my maternal grandmother make on a large loom in her basement.” In another series called Sanctuary, Darla explores nature as a meditative space where “water, plant life and sunlight flow together as vibrant liquids.” This year in the midst of living with the COVID pandemic and sheltering in place in Woodstock for weeks at a time, she began work on what became the COVID Windows series. These paintings suggest the windows of city buildings where people might be sheltering. Darla sees this series of work as a tribute to those hoping to stay safe in their apartments and also to those who succumbed to the virus. Ever cognizant of the historical role and efforts of women artists generally, Darla became a founding member of the women-run nonprofit collective, Ceres Gallery, in downtown Manhattan. In 1996 she left to join SOHO20 Gallery, also a women’s collective, founded in 1973. She has had solo shows and participated in group exhibits and served in administrative capacities in both galleries. Most recently she has served as chair of the SOHO20 Board of Advisors. Darla’s paintings have appeared in many solo and group shows and her work has been reviewed in various publications. (Biography by Carol Capper.)

View more of Darla's work by visiting her website:
www.darlabjork.com

Selected Works

Covid Windows, 2020

Untitled, 2021

Floating Window, 2021

Recent Exhibitions & Events

Looking Forward, CBG Gallery, 2021

Outer Space, Gallery Z, NYC

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2020 CHOIRS, Kaaterskill Fine Arts Gallery. Hunter NY

2019 Weaving Tight and Loose, SOHO20 Gallery, Brooklyn NY
2017 Sanctuary, SOHO20 Gallery, Brooklyn

2016 Birches, Hale Salon, NYC

2015 Torii / Gate, SOHO20 Gallery, Brooklyn

2013 Windows: On the Other Side, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, NYC

2011 Fire Series, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, NYC

2009 Water Series, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, NYC

2007 Recent Paintings, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, NYC

2004 Dawn Paintings: Internal Landscape, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, NYC

2002 India: Reflections, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, NYC

2000 Self Portraits, SOHO20 Gallery, NYC

1996 Grief Spirit, SOHO20 Gallery, NYC

1996 Omettagalleria, Sippola, Finland

1993 Ceres Gallery, NYC

1989 A.I.R. Gallery, NYC

1987 Ceres Gallery, NYC

1985 Ceres Gallery, NYC

GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2021 Looking Forward, juried by Nancy Azara, Carter Burden Gallery, NYC

2020 Sign of the Times, juried by Joanne Mattera, Ceres Gallery, NYC

Dimensions Variable, Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock, NY

2019 Vocabulary, SOHO20 Gallery, Brooklyn NY

2018 What Is A Painting?, Kaaterskill Fine Arts Gallery, Hunter NY
2017 Conversations from the Garden, ArtBar Gallery, Kingston, NY (4 person)

BeauxArtsGala, WAAM, Woodstock, NY

Soho20 Annual Group Show, Soho20 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2016 Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock, NY

2015 Small works / Baruch, Sidney Mishkin Gallery, NYC

Members Show, Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock, NY

2014 Playing with a Full Deck, Greene County Council on the Arts, GCCA Catskill Gallery, Catskill, NY

5x7 Show, Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock, NY

2013 Byrdcliffe Artists’ Studio Tour, Woodstock, NY

Women In Charge!, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, NYC

Together Again, Kleinert/James Art Center, Woodstock, NY

seŸlecŸtion, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, NYC

Sideshow Nation, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2012 Always/Never, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, NYC

Water, Muroff Kotler Visual Arts Gallery, SUNY Ulster., Stone Ridge, NY,

Juried by Portia Muson

2011 Impromptu, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, NYC

I Can Dream Can’t I?, ACA Gallery, NYC

NYFAI Visual Diaries, traveling exhibition, Auburn University, Montgomery, AL,

Fairleigh Dickinson Univ., Teaneck, NJ, Suffolk Community College. L.I., NY

2010 Between the lines, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, NYC

Fracking, Exit Art, NYC

2009 Encaustic Wax, An Ancient Medium Rediscovered, Watchung Arts Center, Watchung, NJ

Bridging Generations: Women Artists and Organizations, Rutgers University Library, Rutgers NJ

Banks of the Hudson, Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock, NY

The River, WAAM, Woodstock, NY

Bridge New York, The Waterfront, NYC

TOASTartwalk, Tribeca, NYC

2008 merry go round, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, NYC

stART08, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, NYC

Ornery Abstraction, Ceres Gallery, NYC

A Toast to Toast, Synagogue for the Arts, NYC

2007 Small Rays of Hope, Rhonda Schaller Chelsea Gallery, NYC

Woodstock School of Art Regional Exhibition, Woodstock, NY

Six Chix, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, NYC

Woodstock Biennial, Kleinert/James Art Center, Woodstock, NY

2006 Couples - Do Opposites Attract?, BRIK Gallery, Catskill, NY

ASK Artists' Studio Tour 2006, Kingston, NY

7+14, Kleinert/James Art Center, Woodstock, NY

Artists' Self Portraits, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, NYC

2005 Portrait, Kleinert/James Art Center, Woodstock, NY

The Square Show, Ceres Gallery, NYC

Small Works, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, NYC

Art Benefit for Blue Ocean Institute, Solomon Projects, Atlanta

Wish You were Here IV, A.I.R. Gallery, NYC

2004 Generations 04, A.I.R. Gallery, NYC

2003 5 x 7 Show, Kleinert/James Arts Center, Woodstock, NY

2002 Artists Choose Artists, Kleinert/James Art Center, Woodstock

2001 Thrown Together, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, NYC

2000 Imaging the Wunderboard, Center for Freudian Analysis and Research, London Biennale 2000

Generations, A Survey of Woman Artists at the Millennium, A.I.R. Gallery, NYC

1999 FranklinFest, TriBecCa Art Walk, NYC

1998 amazons & avatars, OIA @ New York Law School, NYC

Troubling Customs, Ontario College of Art & Design Gallery, Toronto

Transmission, de Zaaijer Gallery, Amsterdam

1997 Ordinary/Extraordinary: The Artists Use of Home, Wood Street Gallery, Chicago

1996 Un-Portrait, Galleria Mesa, Mesa, AZ

1995 Girl Dreams, Woman Visions, CB’s 313 Gallery, NYC

Girlhood, Ceres Gallery, NYC

Nancy Azara & Darla Bjork, Wall Gallery, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, NYC

1994 Healing thru Art/The Art of Healing, Times Square Gallery, NYC

Astraea Arts & Leisure Auction, The Drawing Center, NYC

1993 OIA Salon, The Prince Building, NYC

The Face Not Only A Parent Could Love, Triplex Gallery, NYC

Women’s Art-Women’s Lives-Women’s Issues, Tweed Gallery, NYC

1991 Scarlet Letters, Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY

Visible For A Change, Radcliff College, Cambridge, MA

Wiminfest Art, Jonson Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

The NYC Anti-War Group Exhibition, Brecht Forum, NYC

1990 Black Listed, Whitewashed, Red Handed, SOHO20 Gallery, NYC

The Human Image, North Hennepin Comm College, Mpls, MN

1989 At Home for the Holidays, A.I.R. Gallery, NYC
The Art of Ceres, the Krasdale Exhibition, Bronx

1988 Artists choose Artists, A.I.R. Gallery, NYC

1986 In Homage to Ana Mendieta, Zeus-Trabia Gallery, NYC

1985 Small Works, 80 Washington Square East Galleries, NYC

1984 Art as Therapy: Therapy as Art, Resnick Gallery, Brooklyn